How This Founder Learned to Trust His Team Steven Izen, founder and CEO of lifestyle brand Lokai, talks about how he handled a company setback -- even when he had no control.
By Grace Reader
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
As an entrepreneur, you can't go it alone. You need a team to turn your idea into a reality, scale your business and make it a success. However, for some founders it can be hard to give up control and let others take over. But there will be moments when you have to do just that.
Lokai, a lifestyle brand that began by selling bracelets, ran into a speed bump just as a huge partnership with Charity Water was getting off the ground. The ecommerce site crashed. "I was extremely stressed and freaked out," CEO and founder Steven Izen says.
Related: 12 Tips for Fostering Teamwork
But Izen learned a lot from that day, even if it wasn't how to fix a website. "I need to be able to rely on my team and the people around me," he says. "If I really put my trust in them, they will be able to execute."
And they did. In an hour, the site was up and running. Despite losing precious sales, Izen learned an important lesson.
"There are constantly going to be issues and roadblocks and things that pop up that you aren't expecting," Izen says. "It's how you deal with those things that'll make you a good company or not."
Related: 3 Team-Building Secrets of Successful Small-Business Owners
Check out the video for more on how Izen took on this issue and what he has to say about teamwork.
